RILEY RESPONDS

Four years ago, before Alex Riley was hired as the General Manager of Discover Pro Wrestling, Paul Virk was the first wrestler that I "signed" to DPW. Paul and I spent a lot of time focusing on what kind of impact he would make for our company and originally I planned for Paul to compete for the inaugural DPW Championship at DPW 1: The Warmth of Warfare. When Paul says he was promised a shot at the DPW Championship, he's right.

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As these discussions were taking place, the world fell into chaos and disarray when the pandemic gripped onto our lives. It's well known at this point that due to the lockdown, DPW 1 was rescheduled from June 28th, 2020 to August 22nd, 2021. In this time, I hired Alex Riley as our General Manager which included control of the booking process. I know that things aren't truly set in stone until it's "in the ring," and I mistakenly assumed that Paul knew this too. Without going too far into detail... plans can change.

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While plans can change, this decision was not a reflection of Paul's worth to DPW as a performer, in fact the reason our plans changed was to help keep Paul's schedule open to take opportunities at TNA while still competing for DPW. It simply wasn't possible for Paul to represent DPW over a dozen times around the Midwest in between DPW shows due to his position at TNA.

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And while I can appreciate the fact that Paul thought he could, and I can appreciate Paul's willingness to continue "honoring" his remaining DPW dates, I don't appreciate when performers go into business for themselves, and I don't appreciate when performers hold my company hostage and send veiled threats because of one broken promise. The line between reality and entertainment has clearly been crossed and to be honest, I'm really bored with placating and pacifying this stupid shit just because it's "good TV, pal!" And to "keep 'em on their toes!"

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That's why I've decided to grant The Wanderer - AC Riley full authority to defend the ownership and control of DPW against Paul Virk at DPW 5: Salt The Wound. I am not a wrestler. I hired Alex to "handle everything that happens in the ring" so I could "handle everything outside of the ring." With that being said, I see a viable, legal end to this situation, and it clearly falls under Alex's jurisdiction. There is no one that I trust more with the wellbeing of DPW than Alex. I'm sure Alex will share his response on the DPW socials when he makes one.

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Thank you to all who reached out in response to my search for a lawyer. If you'd like to join me in watching Alex Riley beat the absolute dogshit out of Paul Virk and finally nullify Virk's DPW agreement, tickets for the event go on sale 2/16 at 10am at discoverprowrestling.com